Asked by Mr Dimbleby if the £9,000 was the end of the matter, or if there was any other money received during his time in parliament, Mr McLeish said: "Yes there was David, and what we did with the Fees Office ..."

He went on after interruptions: "I don't know what the sum involved was. But let me say this. The Fees Office..."

Mr Dimbleby said: "You say you don't know how much it was but there was other money that you received, despite the taxpayer paying for your office, by subletting part of it?"

Mr McLeish said: "There were other sub lets which have been in the media. So that's not new."

David Dimbleby quizzed Mr McLeish

He said the money had been spent on his parliamentary office and went on: "Not a penny of that was for my own personal benefit. There is a situation of trust here."

He repeated: "I have not benefited at all personally from whatever happened."

Mr McLeish went on: "If I for a minute had benefited personally from any of this, then I would have no hesitation in saying that and adopting the consequences. But I clearly didn't."

In response to questions from Lord Strathclyde over who benefited from the money, and into what account it had been paid, Mr McLeish said: "I have a business account.

"Every penny that I obtained went into the business account and in turn every penny was spent on the parliamentary activities in my constituency."

Alex Salmond offered Mr McLeish some advice

Alex Salmond argued the matter should be handled by a Holyrood standards committee inquiry, or "better still" by Mr McLeish making a statement to the Scottish Parliament.

"I don't believe Henry is a crook, if you are asking me the straight question," Mr Salmond said when Mr Dimbleby asked if he thought Mr McLeish was "coming clean".

Mr Salmond told Mr McLeish: "Don't have it dragged out bit by bit."

Mr McLeish replied: "I have apologised and I have said this was an error, and I take full responsibility."

The first minister added: "I regret very much what has happened but I don't want that to detract for a minute from the achievements of the second year of devolution."